After Dreaming That the Top Student in My Grade Was My Wife - Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Visiting Linjiang Temple

On the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, the already thin atmosphere of the festivities had gradually faded, and the tide of people returning to work began to rise. Fortunately, the 7:00 AM subway was not crowded at all.

Tao Shuran and Jiang Hanqi sat side-by-side in the empty carriage. In a few more stations, they would arrive at their destination—Linjiang Temple.

This was something they had agreed upon on the second day of the New Year.

After their mutual study session ended that day, Tao Shuran had taken the initiative to suggest going to a temple to burn incense.

As a good youth of the new era, Student Tao Shuran had never believed in these mystical things, but with the recent events, she felt it was already difficult to explain things with science.

Particularly, those dreams were truly too real, even connecting to reality, as if they were things that would happen in the future.

Looking at it now, Tao Shuran had gained benefits and made progress in her relationship with Jiang Hanqi; thus, she felt she should go pay her respects to thank the powers that be. If any misfortune were to arise, showing her attitude early on wouldn’t be considered doing nothing.

It was simply for peace of mind.

Linjiang Temple is the temple with the most flourishing incense in Shanghai. It has a history of a thousand years, is a key national temple, and is one of Shanghai’s landmark attractions.

According to Jiang Hanqi, the crowds at Linjiang Temple are enormous on the first day of the New Year to snatch the “first incense,” on the fifth day for the God of Wealth, plus the three-day holiday after the New Year. Considering they had to return to school on the eighth and classes started on the tenth, they set the date for the sixth. They chose the subway and walking as their means of transport to prevent traffic congestion from affecting their mood on the return trip.

Benefiting from the early-rising habits of student life, when they arrived at Linjiang Temple, it was not yet opening time, but a large crowd had already gathered at the gate. Tao Shuran couldn’t help but sigh; if they had been even a little bit later, there was no telling how long they would have had to queue.

Tao Shuran looked at the commercial street next door, which was bustling and crowded at night; by comparison, it was quite desolate now.

Both of them had only drunk a bowl of thin porridge before leaving to line their stomachs. Jiang Hanqi had wanted to buy two breakfasts at a nearby Chinese breakfast chain, but Tao Shuran waved her hands repeatedly in refusal: “No, no, no. We’ve already reached the front of the temple; the immortals haven’t eaten yet, so how can we satisfy our own gluttony?”

One may not believe, but one must not be disrespectful—this was the basic principle Tao Shuran followed.

Jiang Hanqi couldn’t help but laugh upon hearing this: “Ranran, Linjiang Temple is a Buddhist temple.”

Tao Shuran didn’t want to care much about her meager religious knowledge. She grabbed Jiang Hanqi’s sleeve and went to join the queue.

Linjiang Temple has a construction area of over 20,000 square meters with an exquisite style and ancient charm. However, Tao Shuran was neither interested in ancient architecture nor intended to treat this as a tourist check-in. Therefore, despite this being the first time in her life visiting Linjiang Temple, she pulled Jiang Hanqi straight toward the main goal.

Before even nearing the Buddhist hall, Tao Shuran could already smell a thick fragrance of sandalwood. Looking from a distance, the area around the thousand-year-old sandalwood Thousand-Hand Guanyin in front of the main hall was already swarming with people, showing just how flourishing the incense was.

While queuing to buy incense, Tao Shuran looked at the busy crowd and sighed: “What do you think they are all here to pray for?”

“Probably everything, but Linjiang Temple is most efficacious for careers and studies. It’s quite suitable for us to come here,” Jiang Hanqi replied softly, leaning very close to Tao Shuran.

“You’re so knowledgeable. Have you been here before?” Tao Shuran looked at Jiang Hanqi curiously.

“I’ve only been to a temple once, and it wasn’t here.” Jiang Hanqi shook her head with a smile. Her gaze drifted for a moment before she continued, “I have an uncle who comes here every New Year’s Eve, lining up outside early to wait to burn the first incense of the first day.”

“Does that… have…” any meaning? Tao Shuran’s attention was drawn to the latter half of the sentence. She wanted to complain a bit, but after thinking it over, she felt it was too offensive, so she held the words back and spoke again: “It’s all for a psychological anchor. It’s quite good, after all, it’s a beautiful vision.”

After burning the incense, Tao Shuran went to each of the major statues to pay her respects one by one. There were truly too many small halls in Linjiang Temple; it was unrealistic to visit them all. Although she didn’t donate money to the merit box, the incense Tao Shuran bought was very thick. After finishing these tasks, the two walked further inside to request a consecrated protective talisman.

The entire process was led by Jiang Hanqi. For some reason, the Big Boss Jiang was actually so familiar with this, but Tao Shuran thought about it again—after all, she was the type of person who would study and take memo notes for everything.

Tao Shuran sighed: “A God of Study is indeed a God of Study. You surely don’t need to pray for a talisman.”

“That’s not true. Everyone in the world has something they desire,” Jiang Hanqi lowered her eyes. This was a truth she had only recently come to understand.

“Why? But you don’t even need to study.”

Hearing this, Jiang Hanqi chuckled: “How could that be? Though I am indeed quite free right now. My next exam is in the summer break—the computer science finals.”

“?” Tao Shuran was shocked. “Why are you doing subject competitions in your freshman year?”

“Seniors are usually preparing for recommendations, independent admissions, and the college entrance exam. Subject competitions are generally finished in the freshman or sophomore years. Computer science isn’t closely related to high school knowledge, so participating in the freshman year is most appropriate.”

“…So you finished all your exams in your freshman year?” In Tao Shuran’s memory, there was indeed a period last semester when Jiang Hanqi didn’t come to class.

Jiang Hanqi spoke plainly, being as nonchalant as if describing a small monthly quiz: “No, I’ve only finished physics. The math and physics times conflicted, so I didn’t take the math one. I’m still short the computer science finals.”

“I remember the computer science winter camp is during the winter break. Are you leaving in a few days?” Tao Shuran recalled a senior she knew in middle school who was signed by Capital University directly after the winter camp ended.

Jiang Hanqi replied with a smile: “It’s already over. The provincial team selection is complete. The winter camp is just a cooperative project with Capital University for preferential admission, so I didn’t go.”

 Was this causal relationship appropriate? Tao Shuran patted her chest lightly, feeling a sense of guilt. “You’re so advanced in your studies yet you still come to tutor me. It’s truly… not easy.”

“It’s not like that.” Jiang Hanqi’s tone suddenly became serious, and she countered quickly, “Studying those things was just because I was bored. Tutoring you is different.”

Different? What’s different?

Tao Shuran felt her heart beating a bit fast. She pulled Jiang Hanqi along, taking two steps in one to go forward and request a talisman.

In front of a whole row of counters, Tao Shuran began to struggle again—in her situation, what should she pray for?

Although her studies were indeed the most important thing at the moment, that wasn’t the purpose of this trip. Moreover, studying is more a matter of one’s own effort rather than fate; Tao Shuran didn’t like to rely on metaphysics when she should be working hard.

Health was logically the most reliable, but praying for everything isn’t as good as being specific; the effect would likely be a bit worse.

Warding off evil wasn’t necessarily right either. What if this wasn’t an evil spirit at all? It had clearly brought her good luck. Thinking this way, Tao Shuran stole a glance at Jiang Hanqi.

As for career or wealth, those were definitely not right. Marriage… Tao Shuran shook her head secretly, throwing that dangerous thought away.

Er, it seemed only “all heart’s desires fulfilled” was left.

But she neither had boundless pipe dreams nor a definite dream. She did, however, remember the text message Jiang Hanqi sent her on New Year’s Eve.

“Jiang Hanqi,” Tao Shuran turned around and looked at her, “What do you plan to pray for?”

“I won’t pray. The previous one hasn’t expired yet.” Jiang Hanqi shook her head.

Tao Shuran puffed out her cheeks. Although she was curious, it was better not to ask too much about such things.

Finally, Tao Shuran made up her mind: “Jiang Hanqi, I’ll pray for one for you! Look how hard you’re working to prepare for exams. I’ll pray for academic progress for you; you’ll definitely get a good result then!”

“There’s no need.” Jiang Hanqi’s brow quirked slightly, and she refused with a smile. However, she couldn’t withstand Tao Shuran’s stubbornness. After thinking for a while, she compromised, “If it must be so, let’s rephrase it. I want my heart’s desires to be fulfilled—to get what I want to get.”

That day, Tao Shuran only went home after eating lunch. After requesting the talisman for Jiang Hanqi, she earnestly wrote Jiang Hanqi’s name on it, stroke by stroke, with an unprecedented sincerity. Only after seeing Jiang Hanqi put it into her wallet was she satisfied, not feeling at all that she had already deviated from the original purpose of the trip.

Before she even opened the door to her home, Tao Shuran heard a burst of noise coming from inside. Opening the door, she saw that some relatives from her mother’s side had come for New Year greetings.

Tao’s mother gave Tao Shuran a brief greeting and continued chatting with the adults.

Tao Shuran didn’t like such occasions. After saying “Happy New Year,” she went to the kitchen to pour some water. Before she could even swallow a mouthful, she was called by her mother to sit in the living room.

Tao’s mother’s two distant female cousins usually lived in other districts. Although their children’s grades were just so-so, the level of education in their districts was much better than in the small urban district in the center of Shanghai. As they spoke, they even straightened their backs.

“If you ask me, this No. 5 Middle School is still a bit lacking. Our little Jia has started choosing his choices, too. No. 5 is only good within the urban area; if you go to our district, well, it wouldn’t even make the rankings.”

“Yes, yes,” another chimed in. “How was our little Ran’s final exam? Yangyang told me the urban district papers are quite easy. He was so envious. Right, little Ran?”

Tao’s mother’s expression had turned slightly sour at the first sentence, but upon hearing the second, she put on a polite, formal smile: “Oh, little Ran is just average. Although No. 5’s ‘Double First Class’ rate is only 80%, for an experimental class, it’s hard for things to go wrong, so we don’t worry.”

“Double First Class isn’t enough. Without going abroad, the value won’t go up. In our area, everyone is aiming for the Ivy League.”

Hearing these tall tales, Tao Shuran rolled her eyes in her heart, but she spoke with a sweet smile: “Time truly flies; little Jia and Yangyang are already taking the high school entrance exam. Choosing schools… the land prices in your district are cheap and there are many people, so the high school capacity is huge. Just thinking about it is a hassle. Oh, right, the verified results for competition scores should be coming out soon, right? You must remember to pay attention to the high school’s reply. Fortunately, I only had to choose between several recommended schools back then; by comparison, it was much more convenient.”

Tao Shuran’s words made Tao’s mother feel extremely smooth inside. Tao’s mother laughed heartily and, acting as if she were complaining, gave Tao Shuran her dismissal: “Oh, look at what you’re saying. When the adults are chatting, young girls shouldn’t interfere. Your two nephews are studying in the study; you should go and get busy, too.”

Nephews, my foot. Tao Shuran planned to exit with a fake smile, but suddenly remembered that a few books were still by the computer desk in the study, so she hurriedly opened the door to get them back.

As soon as she opened the door, she saw two brats huddled around the computer, not knowing what they were playing. Their backpacks were casually placed on a stack of files by the computer desk.

Tao Shuran felt a bit uncomfortable. She went up and took the backpacks down, placing them on the sofa in the study. Then she picked up her stack of homework. She had intended to go back to her own room, but suddenly noticed that the spiral notebook she had left open last night was now closed. Looking closer, there was no white string hanging out.

Opening it and flipping from beginning to end, she couldn’t find the bookmark anywhere. Meanwhile, those two children watched her movements and, for some reason, suddenly started giggling.

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